Running A Marathon...

(this was all written a few weeks ago and I am just now posting it)

...or so it seems right now. At this very moment, Brecken is in his crib. Just woke up from a nap...or maybe he never really fell asleep. I have no idea. One thing that I do know is that he is BANGING his body...head...arms...I have no idea, against the side of the crib. Like super hard. And it is so loud! And every time he does he yells, "ooowww!". BANG, "ooowww!" BANG. Really child!? That child falls so much and bumps into these more than we can count, that it rarely phases him when he gets hurt. And if it does phase him, he is over it pretty quickly.

Back to the rest of my life. I feel like I am running a mini marathon without a break. I am getting exhausted and trying to figure out how to balance work, family, church stuff, hobbies. I have to regularly remind myself that I am a working person now.

(I did a wedding show at the beginning of the month)

Paparazzi Accessories is very much a job for me. Granted I am blessed to be able to stay home with my kids and set my own schedule, it is still a business. On top of that, I continue to get orders through my Etsy store. Right when I think I may be a little caught up, another order comes in. I've considered taking a break from it, but I love it and the orders really are sporadic and random. I thought with Paparazzi, my schedule would lighten up a little the first part of the year. Boy was I wrong and I am okay with that. In order to be where I want to be, I knew that I needed to push this hard and work hard at it the first year or so. I have been blessed and

surrounded by the best hostesses, event planners, team members and guests. I have gotten fantastic support from so many people. Right now I have 6 people on my direct team with 8 total in my downline. I have open house after open house scheduled. It never really stopped after the holidays for me. No I don't have 4-5 per week like I did before but consistently 2 per week with events thrown in there. I love it! My team is fantastic!! I love all of my girls! I am in the process of team up with a friend and team member to create a professional brochure for our Paparazzi business. It helps that one is a photographer and the other a graphic designer. I am also excited to have secured several big events in the Treasure Valley. I am going to be a part of two Cinco

de Mayo events, Taste of Home and Women's Expo, the Canyon County Fair and the Western Idaho Fair this year. These are not even the winter ones I plan on being a part of again. It's amazing all of the things that I can be a part of as I have searched them out. I am so happy that Paparazzi is a part of my life. Oh ya, and I put together my website. You should check it out. I am pretty proud of it. It is Jewelry Just My Style. I think I figured out the other day why I wake up tired and can't wake up earlier any more in the mornings. I pretty much go to bed thinking of Paparazzi or just things that I need to do. And then I think it all seriously finds its way into my dreams. Then I wake up facing the day head on. It never heads.

On a fun note, Brecken turned 18 months last month and entered nursery at church. Boy were we both so excited for him. Boy was he not excited at all. I teach a primary class that shares a wall with his nursery. I could hear him for the first 10 minutes crying. Honestly I felt bad for the teachers, not really him. I knew he would survive and love it. This last Sunday was probably the first time that he actually walked in there on his own and didn't care if I turned around and walked out. I was so proud if him. He is my sensitive child. He loves to cuddle, he loves to be near. Quite the opposite of Gunnar. Don't get me wrong, he still has his wild streaks, is outgoing, and totally daring. But when it comes to new situations, he is so quiet and shy.

Speaking of new situations. Heidi and Ren have been taking Cami to the library story time on Thursday. I always forget. They took Brecken for the morning while I had a Paparazzi meeting a couple of weeks ago and he would not leave Ren's lap. This last Thursday I remembered the library and showed up. Heidi and Cami did too. He was fine and dandy in the hall until we got to the meeting room doors and he flipped! He cried on and off the first half of storytime. He would not leave my lap and push himself deeper into my lap when I suggested he get off and play. I think I am going to be taking him more often. He needs the socialization.

Brecken has a best buddy and her name is Cami. Oh man, he loves his cousin! Those two are hilarious together. They get SO excited when they see each other. The other day, I have never witnesses so many kisses and hugs between two people as I did between them. It was pretty cute!

I have been off the coupon bandwagon for a little while now. I think starting Paparazzi right before the mix of the holidays and my Etsy shop always explodes with action during that time too, coupons have taken a backseat. Hopefully not anymore. This last week I was able to take advantage of two awesome deals without any additional coupons. I was SO excited! The first one was at Albertsons. Thankfully Heidi told me about it. For 3 days, Albertsons canned vegetables, canned tomatoes, canned beans and canned broth (these were the ones that I was interested in anyways) were all $.39 each. That is seriously the cheapest I have seen any of those in a really long time. Remember, this was without additional coupons. Well, it was with an in store coupon but they just had those at the registers. I spent $50 and got 120 cans total of canned tomatoes, both chicken and beef broth, corn and black beans. I was excited! I just realized about a week ago that I was on my last couple of cans of corn. I have been out of beans and broth for a long time now and I have been saving this one token can of tomatoes. Why...I have no idea. One of those mental things where I wouldn't use it.

My other awesome find was at Walmart. I was running through the store like mad getting a few things on my list when I ran into someone that is actually interested in signing up with Paparazzi. She works there but was off at the moment so I started chatting with her. She proceeded to tell me that Walmart was matching the Fred Meyers ad of 70% off the lowest clearanced price for clothes. So I was able to find Gunnar 6 pairs of jeans, 4 pair of uniform pants for next year, pack of underwear, long sleeved shirt/pant set, pajamas for Christmas this year, and a red polo for school next year. I spend $40 total! I was SO excited! I could not believe it. Little boys go through pants like crazy. Let's just say he will have lots of shorts for the summer with the amount of pants and holes in the knees he has.